Posted on 08/16/21
| News Source: i24
Diplomatic feud between Poland and Israel continues over passing of Holocaust restitution law
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński on Monday said that the country would reexamine educational trips by Israeli youth for allegedly spreading hatred of Poland as the diplomatic feud over the passing of a Holocaust restitution law continues.
"Educational trips from Israel to Poland do not take place in a proper manner [and are conducted] in a way that hatred of Poland sometimes seeps into the minds of young people. We will examine the issue in depth because it is clear that the way these tours take place is not the right way," Jabłoński said.
He accused Israel of fostering "anti-Polonism," or prejudice against Poles as an ethnic group and the state of Poland and its culture, according to Polish media.
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Saturday signed into law a bill passed by Poland's parliament earlier in the week that severely restricts the ability of Jews to recover property seized by Nazi German occupiers and retained by post-war communist rulers, despite strong opposition from Israel and the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the signing of the law “a shameful decision and disgraceful contempt for the memory of the Holocaust” and said “Poland has chosen to continue harming those who have lost everything.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that he had instructed Israel’s charges d’affaires in Warsaw to return home immediately and the new Israeli ambassador to Poland to stay in Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry also said that it was recommending the Polish ambassador to Israel, who is on vacation, to not return to Israel.